A Cautionary Tale
An important tale as told by Jane Lewis which was not deemed important enough to be printed elsewhere.
‘In memory of Jeannie’
This is quite a long tale, but please read to the end!
A good friend of mine had a large number of bobbins stolen during a break-in at her house. A while later they started to appear on eBay, which my friend bid on and subsequently won on some of them. When they arrived with the sellers’ details, the police were informed and an investigation commenced. Bobbins were then found at the accused’s home. My friend had to clearly identify the bobbins that were returned.
That brings me to my first recommendation. Since this incident, another friend has catalogued her bobbins on a spreadsheet with photographs, bobbin makers and a brief description, and I am planning to do exactly the same. I for one have a great deal of bobbins made by todays bobbin turners and although family commemoratives are easily identified, to be honest I would be hard pressed if presented with a large collection of other ones to say if they were mine, so photographs are vital. If bobbins are insured, money will cover the cost. However, we all have bobbins made by turners no longer turning or no longer with us and therefore are irreplaceable.
My friend did not get all of her bobbins back. Some, as far as she is aware were never listed for sale or found at the home of the perpetrator.
This brings me to the other part of this cautionary tale. The buyers who unwittingly purchased the listed bobbins were contacted and all but one readily agreed to return the bobbins for which they were reimbursed the full amount paid. One however, to start with absolutely refused to return the bobbins, coming up with a few excuses, one of which was that as she had bought so many she couldn’t possibly remember. However, you can look in your purchase history and everything is clearly listed with photographs! After being pressed by the police she eventually returned one very precious commemorative bobbin but still refused to return the remainder. This leads me to think she is not a lacemaker, but a trader who merely looks on bobbins as a way to make as much money as possible and not someone’s treasured possessions. I for one could never use bobbins that I found to be stolen. I really hope a fellow lacemaker would never act like that.
So, photograph and list your bobbins and keep the list on a USB, External Hard Drive or in the ‘Cloud’, which can easily be updated when more are purchased.
Protect your precious bobbins.
I would like to thank Jane for allowing me to share her tale as think we all agree this is important. Photos are important for recognition should it ever be required, but hope that you never have to deal with this situation.
